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Friday, March 2, 2012

WHO IS EMMIE DARK?

Cassie Hartman knows what she
needs to do to get her life under control. First, she'll get herself promoted.
Then she'll update her appearance. Steps three and four—marriage and
family—well, those will have to wait.

Then Ronan McGuire shows up.
The too-sexy, too-polished business consultant has the power to derail Cassie's
plans before she's even really started. If he doesn't approve her promotion,
she'll be back to square one—and that's not an option. Cassie needs to keep her
focus on that first step, no matter how much Ronan tempts her to skip ahead to
the third and fourth ones….

Sweat prickled the back of
his neck. It was too hot for a suit, but professional pride insisted he drag
his Hugo Boss jacket from the backseat and shrug it on anyway.

Funny, he hadn't thought he
had any pride left.Ronan Conroy surveyed the
scene from inside the car a bit longer, delaying the moment he'd need to turn
off the engine and lose the blast of cool air from the vents—little as it was
doing to assuage the heat.

Two women stood outside the
Country Style furniture warehouse in the grimy, industrial outskirts of
Melbourne. Heat shimmered in air that smelled of dust and smoke, perceptible
even inside the car. Concrete buildings and asphalt roads only magnified the
temperature. It was hot as hell and that was probably fitting—this was, after
all, supposed to be a punishment.

The women were talking
animatedly. Stacks of furniture—chairs, tables, cabinets, bed frames—were
haphazardly arranged around them. Guys dripping sweat emerged from inside the
warehouse, grabbed an item and disappeared back into the darkness with it.

As jet lag pulled at his
eyelids, Ronan watched the women continue to talk, each of them occasionally
pointing at a clipboard one of them was holding.

The one closest to where
Ronan had parked was short, blonde and dressed in a light green skirt and
matching short-sleeved suit jacket. Her hair was cut in a neat bob, shiny and
precise. Even from a distance he could see her lips were outlined in bright
lipstick.

The other was taller. She
wore dark trousers and a pale blue shirt with the Country Style logo emblazoned
over one breast, the sleeves rolled up. A streak of dust marred one pant leg,
and her cheeks were flushed. But her hair. .long, dark, wavy. It was barely
constrained by a clip at her nape and hung down to midway between her shoulder
blades. As he watched, she tucked a stray lock behind one ear. If that
beautiful mane was out, allowed free, it would swing forward, over her
shoulders. Would it cover her breasts? Maybe. Maybe not quite. Maybe just—

Ronan gave himself a mental
shake. It was just this sort of thing that had got him into trouble before.

It was why he was here, on
the other side of the world, while his disapproving father was back in San
Francisco waiting to see if he could prove himself. Again.

He grabbed his briefcase and
turned off the engine, stepping out of the car. This one was going to be
strictly business. There was too much riding on it for it to be anything but.
His chance to finally prove that he was good enough for the partnership in
Conroy Corporation that should have been his long ago—even if it was by
completing a job that barely matched his skill level. It was going to be a walk
in the park.

He'd been sent here to work
with Cassidy Hartman, the head of operations for Country Style. He straightened
his shoulders and headed toward the women. He'd bet she was the one in the
suit.

Cassie noticed someone
approaching out of the corner of her eye, but she was too absorbed by the
figures on her assistant's clipboard to pay much attention. The delivery was
short—very short—and they were going to have a problem meeting customer orders,
never mind having floor stock for display in the fifty-seven Country Style
stores around Australia. The tedious task ahead of them now was to match the
consignment note with every item that had been delivered and then she'd be on
the phone to the manufacturer, making her displeasure clear. This was the third
time this company had short-delivered and Cassie's patience was running out.

"I'm not standing for
this, Mel," Cassie said, one hand going back to play with her hastily
gathered-up ponytail. Her other hand grasped her paper coffee cup dangerously
tightly.

"I know, I know,"
Melanie said soothingly. "They've tried this on us before. But don't
worry, we'll get on to it and it will be sorted."

"As if we didn't have
enough to deal with today," Cassie said under her breath. Being caught in
the middle of an argument with a supplier was the last thing she needed.

A surprise phone call from
her boss the previous afternoon had informed her that some high-flying
international business analyst would be arriving this morning to begin a review
of the entirety of Country.

Style's operations. Graham
Taylor, the owner of Country Style, hadn't needed to spell out that Cassie's
own performance was what was really under the microscope here.

Cassie checked her watch. It
was only just before eight, so she figured she had at least another hour or so
to prepare. She did a mental run-through of her to-do list, checking off
priorities on her fingers. "I still have to confirm the travel
arrangements for the store visits, finalize the contracts for the new ad
campaign and iron out the problems with the signage on the new Hawthorn store
before the opening next Monday."

"I know," Melanie
repeated sympathetically. "I'll deal with this and I can work on the
travel stuff. You just focus on Hawthorn and do what you need to do."

Cassie was grateful for her
assistant's encouraging smile and composed demeanor. Normally a very cool, calm
and collected businesswoman herself, today's inspection had Cassie feeling
jittery, doubting herself and her management abilities. She'd barely slept last
night after staying up late to prepare herself for the inquisition. She'd
worked through every possible scenario, rehearsing her responses to any
question she could think of. It hadn't helped. Now she was just nervous and
sleep deprived. She took a long sip of her coffee, hoping that the caffeine
would give her a jolt, get her back to her normal, take-charge self.

Still caught up in
self-analysis, Cassie was just taking another sip of coffee when a tall, suited
man suddenly appeared next to them, making her gasp in shock.

He held his hand out to
Melanie.

"Hello, you must be
Cassidy Hartman." Smiling broadly, his American accent rang out as if someone
had just turned on a TV. "I'm Ronan C—McGuire from the Conroy Corporation.
I understand Graham called to let you know to expect me."

Cassie's world slowed for a
moment.

This was the pencil-pushing
number-cruncher Graham had sent to check up on her?

But there wasn't a bow tie,
pocket protector or pair of horn-rimmed glasses in sight. Instead, everything
about this man screamed money and sophistication, from the tailored shoulders
of his fine wool suit all the way down to the shiny, no doubt Italian, leather
lace-ups. His dark hair was artfully tousled, just enough to look as though
care had been taken, but not so much that it would look fussy.

If this was a sitcom, then
the star had just walked in—straight out of central casting, with "tall,
dark and handsome" written in script under his name. Cassie half expected
to hear whoops and mad applause in the background.

Melanie, flustered, looked
from the man who held his hand out toward her to Cassie and back again, her
pretty face creased with confusion and anxiety.

Cassie, for her part,
remembered to breathe at the same time as she also remembered to swallow her
mouthful of lukewarm coffee. Bad idea.

Ronan looked over at Cassie
and patted her on the back firmly a few times. "Are you okay?"

His eyes sent a ribbon of
heat through her that had nothing to do with the oppressive northerly wind
whipping around them. Blue. Perfect reflections of the summer sky above them.
Sultry and flirtatious, his gaze made Cassie's heart skip, even as she tried to
swallow and breathe normally.

She fought to restore her
composure. "I'm fine," she said hoarsely. She blinked back the tears
threatening to stream down her cheeks from the coughing fit.

"Good." Ronan
nodded and turned back to Melanie. "So, Ms. Hartman, I know Graham
probably told you to expect me at nine, but I like to arrive a little early so
we have a chance to get to know—"

"I'm Cassidy
Hartman." Cassie drew herself up straight and held out her hand. She knew
her face was red and not just from the coughing. This was Graham's consultant,
and he'd mistaken Melanie for her. who could blame him? She was filthy from
crawling through the recently arrived stock trying to do a rough estimate on
quantities. She'd barely slept so she knew her eyes were baggy and her hair was
in its usual messy pony-tail. Whereas Melanie—well, she was Melanie. Cool,
crisp and utterly perfect.

A FEW FACTS ABOUT EMMIE

After years of writing press
releases, employee newsletters and speeches for CEOs and politicians – none of
which included any kind of kissing – Emmie Dark finally took to her laptop to
write what she wanted to write. She was both amazed and delighted to discover
that what came out was sexy, noble heroes who found themselves crossing paths
with strong, determined heroines. And plenty of kissing.

Emmie’s overnight success has
taken about five years to achieve. She began fiddling around with story ideas
when the urge to write fiction became overwhelming. In July 2011 she sold her
first book to Harlequin SuperRomance and she’s not looking back, with her
second sale in September. Both books will be out in 2012.

Emmie lives in Melbourne,
Australia, and she likes red lipstick, chardonnay,sunshine, driving fast, rose-scented soap and
a really good cup of tea. Like, a really good cup of tea. She’s particularly
fussy about it, and has been known to pack her own teabags when she travels.
Most members of her family are too scared to make her a cuppa, in case they get
it wrong.

A FEW QUESTIONS & A FEW ANSWERS

ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?

EMMIE:All the time – and not just when reading. I easily get
lost in movies and TV shows as well. In fact sometimes I prefer a movie or TV
show because I find it easier to turn off my “writer’s brain” and just enjoy it,
instead of trying to analyze the style or structure.

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading?

EMMIE:I remember my Dad reading me “Peter and the Wolf”
(with the accompanying music) when I was very young. Perhaps that’s why I now
find a writing soundtrack to be indispensible!

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

EMMIE:I’m not sure if I have one. My favorite endearment is
“sweetheart” – heroes saying that melt my heart.

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

EMMIE:I’m not positive of the official name, but I think
it’s called “The Dancing Princesses”. It’s the story of princess sisters who
manage to disappear from the castle each night and dance their shoes into
ribbons. The king offered one of them in marriage to the prince that could
discover where the princesses went to. I remember they had to walk through
forests of silver and gold to get to their dancehall, and I also loved the fact
that the successful prince chose the eldest sister to wed as his bride. I was
the eldest sister in my family and I felt that fairytales unfairly favored
youngest siblings!

ANGI: Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

EMMIE:Music is such a personal thing – it’s hard to dictate
to others what might be good to listen to. But I certainly did have a playlist
for writing this story. It was lots of indie-pop-style stuff, like Seeker Lover
Keeper, Mates of State, The National, The Panics, as well as some occasional
hoary old rock anthems like “We Belong” by Pat Benatar – the ultimate romance
cliché!

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

EMMIE:Usually in bed, at night, to help switch my brain off
at the end of the day. And usually every day, although sometimes tiredness will
overcome my good intentions.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

EMMIE:It’s hard to beat the sound of a champagne cork
popping!

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

EMMIE:Ooh, can I have both? I especially love TV shows that
combine both elements – like Supernatural, Once Upon a Time and Buffy the
Vampire Slayer – where you get a great, action-packed story with traditional,
fairy-tale-like good and evil battles.

ANGI: Is writing or story-telling easier for you?

EMMIE:Writing, definitely. With the release of Cassie’s
Grand Plan, I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve had to answer the question
“So, what’s it about?”. I think I’d rather write a hundred books than answer
that question! I’m much better coming up with words with a keyboard in front of
me than with a person or a microphone.

ANGI: What’s something you’d like to tell your fans?

EMMIE:That I’d be thrilled if there were actually any!

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK:Your bio states that you like a really good cuppa.
Okay, share the secret…what makes it so grand?

EMMIE’S GOTTA ANSWER:Oh, you’re
really going to make me admit to my tea snobbishness, aren’t you! Well, I think
there are two key secrets to the perfect cuppa. One is the water temperature.
Water that’s still boiling is too hot (so is water that comes out of those
coffee machines, unfortunately!). You have to let the kettle sit for a minute
or two before you pour. The second secret is how long to leave the tea to
steep. That’s a very individual thing, and why it can be very difficult to make
someone else the perfect cup of tea. I have different preferences depending on
the type of tea. You can see why my family avoid making me tea if they can!

WHERE TO FIND EMMIE

WebsiteFacebookTwitterBlogUP NEXT FOR EMMIE’S READERS:My
next book is called “In His Eyes” and it will be out in August with Harlequin
SuperRomance. More information will be coming soon!

WE’LL DRAW for a copy of CASSIE’S GRAND
PLAN

Note: Offer void where
prohibited. Prizes will be available to international addresses only unless
specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of
entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a
timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the
author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be
responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not
automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter
publicly posts their email address.

DON’T FORGETto
FOLLOW us on Twitter (#GetLostStories) or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest
authors and their prizes. We’re very excited to celebrate Simone St. James’
debut novel release ALL NEXT WEEK. Join us for drawings and to discover THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE. ~Angi

EMMIE’S QUESTION FOR TODAY:

As a new author, I’m still
excited about the idea of people actually reading my book. (Although I don’t
know if that ever wears off, really!) If you’d like to go into the drawing for
a $100 Amazon gift card, send me a photo of you reading my book. Visit my
website (www.emmiedark.com) to find out more.

USA Today Bestseller Angi Morgan is an 11th generation Texan who plots ways to engage her readers with complex story lines, in actual Texas locations. She shares her research and photos on her daily blog: A Picture A Day.

Hi Denise Z -- thank you so much for your good wishes. From what I hear from other authors, the excitement of seeing your words in print doesn't wear out -- so that's a great incentive to keep writing!

Hi Emmie,Congrats on your new release - I know how excited you are and so are all your friends :) I can't wait to read it! (Hopefully my copy is winging its way to Australia from the Book Depository as we speak)

I remember Peter and the Wolf! The haunting music and how you knew when the wolf was nearby. Scary!